News

July 13 2017

New USCIS Ombudsman Report

USCIS Ombudsman Report The new USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report contains some disturbing statistics: 58,043 EB-5 petitions are on file with USCIS; 30,000 people with approved I-526s are waiting for immigrant visas. The program needs more visa numbers. New I-526 Form The USCIS has again issued a new form I-526. The new version must be used beginning...

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June 30 2017

Explanation of Extreme Vetting for Muslim EB-5 Immigrants

I said in my last newsletter that it was not clear if new extreme vetting procedures would be applied to EB-5 immigrant visa applicants from the six Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. By extreme vetting, I am referring to the review of the immigrant’s social media,...

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June 27 2017

EB-5 and the Travel Ban

The Supreme Court today partially lifted the lower Court’s injunction of the Trump Muslim travel ban for people from Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The Court will allow the government to ban people from the 6 countries for 90 days unless they have a bona fide relationship with a...

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June 19 2017

New Draft EB-5 USCIS Policy Manual RE: Redeployment of Funds Maintaining the Investment

The June 15, 2017 draft EB-5 policy contains a significant change. It says that once the investor files the I-829, they no longer need to maintain the investment beyond the two years of conditional permanent resident status, assuming of course that the needed 10 jobs were created. The investor need...

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June 16 2017

USCIS clarifies rules on redeployment of EB-5 capital

Today, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") issued a new draft policy manual which substantially changes their rules. USCIS now says no new I-526 will be required when the EB-5 capital is redeployed, provided that: 1) the first investment creates the needed jobs; 2) the new commercial enterprise (“NCE”) redeploys...

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